Thursday, October 17, 2013

The IPT Update

The Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT)


General security, policy
1.  US keeping measured expectations in nuclear talks with Iran; 'Death to America' chants challenge Iran president's diplomacy; Israel warns against partial agreement with Iran
2.  North Korea's overseas restaurants used for espionage and gaining hard currency
3.  CIA warning on Snowden in '09 said to slip through the cracks
4.  Libyan terror suspect Anas Al Liby brought to US, appears in SDNY court; Suspect's health halted interrogation, official says
5.  Two charged in NY with conspiring to aid Al Qaida, Taliban
6.  Vietnamese-American who fought with Syrian rebels wanted to join al Qaeda, say authorities
7.  Canada's Supreme Court to hear Harkat's case in test of national security laws
8.  Canadian former foreign minister questioned in Abdelrazik lawsuit
9.  Toronto police unit takes on community work in Somali neighbourhoods to build trust, make peace

Air, rail, port, health, energy & communication security
10. Jacksonville man arrested on recent attacks on power grid
11. LAX employee arrested for dry ice bombings at airport
12. Federal health agencies vulnerable to cyberattack, study finds


Financing, money laundering, fraud, identity theft, civil litigation
13. Missouri man gets 14 years for al-Qaida financial support
14. B.C. bombing victim can argue for share of Iran's Canadian assets in U.S. lawsuit, court rules

Border security, immigration & customs
15. Illegal immigrants in Arizona fight deportations, call on Obama to halt removals

International
16. Kenya charges man with terror plot, links him to mall attack; Al Shabaab gains foothold among Kenyans
17. Rival al-Qaeda-linked groups fortifying in Syria with mix of pragmatism and militancy; Clerics rule besieged Damascus residents may eat dogs
18. Jihadists assassinate governor in key Afghan province; ISAF soldier killed in latest insider attack in eastern Afghanistan
19. Police foil 'Mumbai-style' terrorist plot in London, say security sources; Shots fired during London anti-terror operations
20. Britain's MI5 head says Edward Snowden leaks are 'gift' to terrorists
21. Leader of British anti-Islamist protest group quits over extremism
22. Hackers planted remote devices to smuggle drugs through Antwerp port, Europol reveals

Comment / analysis
23. Claudia Rosett:  Nobel Peace Charade
24. Amos Yadlin & Avner Golov:  Four Possible Deals With Iran
25. MEMRI:  Bashar Al-Assad: The Nobel Peace Prize Should Have Gone To Me
26. Yaakov Lappin:  Hamas Tunneling Its Way to Future Clash With Israel

The Investigative Project on Terrorism Update is designed for law enforcement, the intelligence community and policy makers for non-profit research and educational use only.   Quoted material is subject to the copyright protections of the original sources, which should be cited for attribution, rather than the Update.

THE AMERICAS

GENERAL SECURITY, POLICY

1.  U.S. keeping measured expectations in nuclear talks with Iran
A senior U.S. official says that 'the chances of an agreement being reached in two days are quite low,' as world powers and Iran prepare to meet in Geneva.
By Paul Richter and Ramin Mostaghim Los Angeles Times 6:53 PM PDT, October 14, 2013
GENEVA — A senior Obama administration official cautioned Monday that "no one should expect a breakthrough overnight" in international talks that begin here Tuesday on Iran's disputed nuclear program, despite rising hopes of a diplomatic solution.  As negotiators from six world powers and Iran gathered for two days of talks, the official told reporters that although Iran has given encouraging signs that it is ready compromise, any search for a solution will be "very, very difficult.... We know that the road will have bumps in it."  "The chances of an agreement being reached in two days are quite low," said the official, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks. "This is complicated work."…

'Death to America' chants challenge Iran president's diplomacy
October 11, 2013 10:36am EDT Reuters By Jon Hemming and Marcus George
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/11/us-iran-nuclear-usa-idUSBRE99A0HA20131011
DUBAI (Reuters) - While Iranian President Hassan Rouhani tries to ease friction with the United States, chants of "death to America" on Friday may deepen doubts in the West that Tehran is ready for a deal as talks on its nuclear program resume next week.  Rouhani's resounding June election victory gave him a popular mandate to reverse Iran's confrontational foreign policy and attempt to win relief from international sanctions imposed over concerns Iran may be seeking a nuclear weapons capability.  It also won him the guarded support of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the most important power center in Iran.  But conservative hardliners in the Islamic Republic's complex political establishment have picked up on reservations expressed by Khamenei and begun a rearguard campaign to put the brakes on Rouhani's diplomatic opening…

Israel Warns Against Partial Agreement With Iran
By ISABEL KERSHNER New York Times October 16, 2013
JERUSALEM — Israel said on Tuesday that it would "embrace a genuine diplomatic solution" that would bring about the dismantling of Iran's potential nuclear weapons program but warned world powers against any partial agreement and urged them not to ease the sanctions on Iran prematurely.  As nuclear talks began in Geneva, Israel's security cabinet issued a detailed statement laying out its case for bringing Iran's uranium enrichment to an end and saying, "Sanctions must not be eased when they are so close to achieving their intended purpose."… "Israel does not oppose Iran having a peaceful nuclear energy program," the statement said. "But as has been demonstrated in many countries, from Canada to Indonesia, peaceful programs do not require uranium enrichment or plutonium production. Iran's nuclear weapons program does."  In a speech at the opening of the winter session of the Israeli Parliament on Monday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it would be "a historic mistake" to relax the pressure on Iran now…

2.  North Korea's Overseas Restaurants Used for Espionage and Gaining Hard Currency
Pyongyang rakes in more than $100 million annually from workers and restaurants abroad
BY: Bill Gertz Follow @BillGertz   Washington Free Beacon October 15, 2013 4:59 am
http://freebeacon.com/north-koreas-overseas-restaurants-used-for-espionage-and-gaining-hard-currency/
North Korea's global network of state-run restaurants, most in China, are dens of espionage and sites of operations involving tens of thousands of overseas North Koreans who send the regime in Pyongyang more than $100 million in hard currency annually, according to U.S. and western intelligence officials.  In Asia alone, the U.S. government has identified 60 restaurants ranging from Nepal to Cambodia to Dandong, China – located along the Yalu River separating China from North Korea.  Additionally, North Korea has dispatched up to 40,000 guest workers abroad. The workers are forced to live in slave-like conditions and provide a large portion of their funds to the communist government, said officials who discussed intelligence on the operations on condition of anonymity.  North Korea's restaurants have become important sources of currency. The restaurants make annual payments to Pyongyang of between $10,000 and $30,000, according to defectors from North Korea with direct knowledge… The restaurants also have been linked to money laundering operations and other illicit activities by North Korea, whose agents in the past have been implicated in illegal drug trafficking…

3.  C.I.A. Warning on Snowden in '09 Said to Slip Through the Cracks
By ERIC SCHMITT New York Times October 11, 2013
WASHINGTON — Just as Edward J. Snowden was preparing to leave Geneva and a job as a C.I.A. technician in 2009, his supervisor wrote a derogatory report in his personnel file, noting a distinct change in the young man's behavior and work habits, as well as a troubling suspicion.  The C.I.A. suspected that Mr. Snowden was trying to break into classified computer files to which he was not authorized to have access, and decided to send him home, according to two senior American officials.  But the red flags went unheeded. Mr. Snowden left the C.I.A. to become a contractor for the National Security Agency, and four years later he leaked thousands of classified documents. The supervisor's cautionary note and the C.I.A.'s suspicions apparently were not forwarded to the N.S.A. or its contractors, and surfaced only after federal investigators began scrutinizing Mr. Snowden's record once the documents began spilling out, intelligence and law enforcement officials said.  "It slipped through the cracks," one veteran law enforcement official said of the report…
  
4.  Terror Suspect Caught in Libya Appears in Manhattan Court
By BENJAMIN WEISER New York Times Oct 16, 2013
A reputed Al Qaeda operative who was recently captured in Libya made his first public appearance on Tuesday in a packed courtroom in Manhattan, seeming far more dour and haggard than defiant.  The suspect, Nazih Abdul-Hamed al-Ruqai, wearing sweat pants and a dark shirt, was advised of his rights by Judge Lewis A. Kaplan of Federal District Court. David E. Patton, a federal public defender, entered a not-guilty plea on his behalf.  Mr. Ruqai, speaking through an Arabic interpreter, responded briefly to the judge's questions, indicating that he understood his rights. A Koran belonging to Mr. Ruqai sat on the table in front of him.  A federal prosecutor, Nicholas J. Lewin, told the judge that Mr. Ruqai "presents a clear danger to the community," and was a flight risk. The judge ordered Mr. Ruqai detained pending trial.  Mr. Ruqai was indicted in Manhattan in 2000 on conspiracy charges stemming from Al Qaeda's 1998 bombings of two United States Embassies in East Africa, which killed 224 people. He had been a fugitive for years, and was seen as potentially possessing a wealth of intelligence information about Al Qaeda, from its earliest days to the present.  Mr. Ruqai, who is known as Abu Anas al-Libi, was captured by United States commandos in Tripoli, Libya, on Oct. 5. He spent a week in military custody aboard a Navy ship in the Mediterranean…

Al Qaeda suspect's health halted interrogation, official says
By Shaun Waterman-The Washington Times Tuesday, October 15, 2013
The at-sea interrogation of al Qaeda suspect Abu Anas al-Libi was halted and he was transferred to a U.S. medical facility because of concerns about his health, a U.S. official said Tuesday.  "After several days, it was determined that he needed more ongoing medical treatment than could be provided" on the USS Sullivan, the Navy vessel where al-Libi was taken after being seized by an Army Delta Force detachment in Tripoli on Oct. 5, said the official, who spoke on the condition that neither he nor his agency be identified…

Statement Of U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara On The Transfer Of Anas Al Liby To The Southern District Of New York
US Attorney's Office, Southern District of New York Monday, October 14, 2013

Libyan Terror Suspect Brought to New York for Trial
By BENJAMIN WEISER New York Times October 15, 2013
…His capture this month was seen as a potential intelligence coup because he had been on the run for more than a decade and would, presumably, possess information about Al Qaeda from its earliest days through its contemporary, more scattered state…

5.  Two Charged with Conspiring to Aid Al Qaida, Taliban
by Abha Shankar  IPT News Oct 15, 2013 at 2:53 pm
http://www.investigativeproject.org/4186/two-charged-with-conspiring-to-aid-al-qaida
IPT NOTE:  Court documents are posted at http://www.investigativeproject.org/case/650
Two New York City men were arrested Friday and charged with conspiring to funnel money and equipment to terrorist groups, including al-Qaida and the Taliban, fighting American forces in Afghanistan.  Humayoun Ghoulam Nabi, a Pakistani national, and Ismail Alsarabbi, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Kuwait, allegedly conspired to supply Afghan mujahideen with warm winter clothing and other supplies to better equip them to fight U.S. troops in the region. According to the complaint issued by the district attorney in Queens, New York, Nabi admitted "he had engaged in a plan to provide outerwear and boots to fighters in Afghanistan who were fighting American soldiers and that he did so because he hates the United States, Jewish people, and US soldiers specifically and that he wanted to give those fighting the Americans equipment that would level the playing field."…

PAKISTANI NATIONAL AND U.S. NATURALIZED CITIZEN CHARGED WITH SOLICITING AID FOR TERRORIST GROUPS IN AFGHANISTAN
DISTRICT ATTORNEY, QUEENS COUNTY 718-286-6000 Release #160-2013 www.queensda.org
CONTACT: QDA PRESS (718-286-6315)
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2013 NYPD/DCPI (646-610-6700)
http://www.queensda.org/newpressreleases/2013/october/nabi_10_10_2013_cmp.pdf

6.  Calif. man indicted in terrorism investigation
The Associated Press Monday, Oct. 14, 2013 | 12:07 a.m.
The FBI says a California man has been arrested on an indictment alleging he was attempting to provide material support to al-Qaida.  An FBI statement says 24-year-old Sinh Vinh Ngo Nguyen of Garden Grove was arrested Friday morning while waiting to board a bus to Mexico.  The FBI says Nguyen, a U.S. citizen, was also indicted on a charge of making false statements in an application for a passport to facilitate an act of international terrorism…

US man who fought with Syrian rebels wanted to join al Qaeda, say authorities
By Andrew Blankstein and Pete Williams NBC News October 11, 2013
An Orange County man who had fought with Syrian rebels against the Assad regime was arrested Friday morning as he tried to leave the U.S. with a fake passport to fight for al Qaeda against U.S. soldiers overseas, said authorities…  According to law enforcement officials, Nguyen traveled to Syria last year to fight with rebels against the Assad regime. When he returned, he allegedly expressed a desire to go to Pakistan and join up with al Qaeda. He allegedly met someone he thought could help him, but that person turned out to be working undercover for the U.S.  Federal officials said Nguyen told the person helping him that he wanted to go overseas, fake his own death and get a new identity so he join al Qaeda and fight against U.S. soldiers. He allegedly gave the person photos, got a new fake passport, and was arrested when he tried to use that passport to leave the country… At the courthouse, his mother, Hieu Nguyen, told The Associated Press that he had converted to Islam in the past year…

7.  Supreme Court to hear Harkat's case in test of national security laws
SEAN FINE, JUSTICE REPORTER — The Globe and Mail Wednesday, Oct. 09 2013, 10:28 PM EDT
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/11096
Ten years after an Ottawa pizza delivery man was jailed as a suspected al-Qaeda sleeper agent, Mohamed Harkat's wild roller coaster of a case reaches the Supreme Court this week, in a major test of secrecy provisions in national security matters.  The case will provide a measure of how tough the Supreme Court, with a majority of its members now appointed by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, is prepared to be on terrorism, as the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, recede in time.  The Canadian government argues that any loosening of the current rules would threaten national security. A lower-court ruling that sided with Mr. Harkat "weakens the protection of informers and places Canada's intelligence gathering capabilities at risk," the government said in a brief to the Supreme Court. On the other side, a wide array of interveners – including the Canadian Bar Association, the Canadian Council of Criminal Defence Lawyers and Amnesty International – say that the current system doesn't give Mr. Harkat a fair chance at defending himself…

8.  Former foreign minister Lawrence Cannon questioned in Abdelrazik lawsuit
Former foreign affairs minister Lawrence Cannon recently spent more than two hours answering questions under oath as part of a lawsuit filed by htmlAbousfian Abdelrazik, Montreal man seeking compensation and an apology from the federal government for his prolonged detention in Sudan.
By: Jim Bronskill The Canadian Press, Published on Mon Oct 14 2013
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/11099
OTTAWA—Former foreign affairs minister Lawrence Cannon recently spent more than two hours answering questions under oath as part of a lawsuit filed by a Montreal man seeking compensation and an apology from the federal government for his prolonged detention in Sudan.  Abousfian Abdelrazik, who was imprisoned by the Sudanese before being stranded in the Canadian Embassy in Khartoum, put questions to Cannon — now Canada's ambassador to France — through his counsel during a closed-door examination process, a precursor to trial… Abdelrazik, 51, launched the lawsuit against the federal government and Cannon in September 2009 over his detention and torture due to alleged terrorist ties…

9.  Police unit takes on community work in Somali neighbourhoods to build trust, make peace
The Somali Liaison Unit, an unusual hybrid of policing and community work, aims to rebuild a fractured trust in the wake of Project Traveller.
By: Jennifer Pagliaro News reporter, Published on Sun Oct 13 2013 Toronto Star
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/11104
… Sgt. Chris Laush…[t]he Toronto police officer is the leader of a year-old, six-member team called the Somali Liaison Unit, an unusual attempt at curbing violent crime in 23 Division. The area in northwest Toronto consistently has one of the city's highest crime rates.  Ever since a guns and gangs raid called Project Traveller burst into numerous apartments in July, his unit has redoubled its efforts in two predominantly Somali communities in Rexdale — Dixon and Queensplate — to try to rebuild a fractured trust…

AIR, RAIL, PORT, HEALTH, ENERGY & COMMUNICATION SECURITY

IPT NOTE: For more, see DHS Daily Open Source Infrastructure Reports http://www.dhs.gov/files/programs/editorial_0542.shtm ; DHS Blog http://www.dhs.gov/news-releases/blog;   TSA Releases http://www.tsa.gov/press/releases/index.shtm ; TSA Blog http://blog.tsa.gov/

10.  Jacksonville man arrested on recent attacks on power grid
2:54 PM, Oct 13, 2013 THV 11 News
…Jason Woodring, age 37, of Jacksonville, Arkansas, was arrested on a Criminal Complaint charging him with destruction of an energy facility.   The Affidavit filed with the Complaint alleges that Woodring is responsible for multiple acts of sabotage to the power grid in Central Arkansas.  Yesterday, Lonoke County Sheriff's Office deputies received multiple calls regarding an explosion on John Shelton Road in Jacksonville, Arkansas.  Deputies and Entergy employees determined the explosion occurred under power lines near Woodring's residence.  Agents from the FBI and Joint Terrorism Task Force called to the scene, observed a type of blue hose similar to evidence found at another power grid sabotage scene.  Interviews were conducted and information from these interviews was connected to previous power grid attacks resulting in the arrest of Woodring today.  It is anticipated that an initial appearance in federal court will be scheduled for Tuesday...

11.  LAX employee arrested for dry ice bombings at airport
Servisair baggage handler DiCarlo Bennett was busted after dry ice explosions in an employee men's room and on the tarmac outside. Cops believe the blasts may be the work of a disgruntled employee involved in an internal labor dispute.
ASSOCIATED PRESS PUBLISHED: WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2013, 5:00 AM
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/lax-employee-arrested-dry-ice-bombings-article-1.1487068
LOS ANGELES — A baggage handler has been arrested following a police investigation into two dry ice explosions at Los Angeles International Airport.  Dicarlo Bennett, a 28-year-old employee for the ground handling company Servisair, was booked Tuesday for possession of a destructive device near an aircraft. He is being held on $1 million bail.  Police had stepped up patrols and increased its checks on employees after the blasts took place Sunday night and then again Monday night…

Dry Ice Bombs Found at LAX 2nd Night in a Row
Multiple dry ice bombs were found at LAX just one night after one bomb went off in an airport bathroom
By Brandon Lowrey, Jonathan Lloyd and Toni Guinyard Tuesday, Oct 15, 2013 NBC Los-Angeles
… Three dry ice bombs were found on the tarmac outside of Los Angeles International Airport Monday night, prompting a bomb squad response as the FBI probed an explosion by the same type of bomb at LAX just one night earlier.  A bomb - a relatively harmless and simple device made of a plastic bottle and dry ice - went off about 8:30 p.m., said LAPD Detective Gus Villanueva. No injuries were immediately reported. Though harmless from afar, someone could get hurt if they were close enough, airport officials said.  Officials confirmed a suspicious item drew emergency crews to the Tom Bradley International Terminal. Three dry ice bombs were found outside the terminal on the tarmac -- a location only accessible to badge-carrying employees with authority and clearance to work in the area…

12.  Federal health agencies vulnerable to cyberattack, study finds
October 15, 2013 | Diana Manos, Healthcare IT News
http://www.govhealthit.com/news/federal-health-agencies-vulnerable-cyber-attack-study-finds
ALEXANDRIA, VA – Government agencies, including the Department of Health and Human Services and others, are vulnerable to a wide variety of cyber security threats, including international cyber attacks, breaches involving mobile devices, and denial-of-service attacks, according to a new study http://www.meritalk.com/cybersecurityexperience conducted by MeriTalk.  Fifty percent of cyber pros said their agency is likely to be a target of a denial-of-service attack in the next 12 months, the study found, despite the fact that cyber security contractors use firewalls, encryption and two- factor authentication to help safeguard their data…

FINANCING, LAUNDERING, FRAUD, IDENTITY THEFT, CIVIL LITIGATION

13.  Missouri man gets 14 years for al-Qaida support
October 7, 2013 BY BILL DRAPERAssociated Press
IPT NOTE:  Court documents posted at http://www.investigativeproject.org/case/467
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Kansas City businessman who pleaded guilty more than three years ago to providing financial support to al-Qaida has been sentenced to 14 years in prison.   Khalid Ouazzani was sentenced in a Kansas City federal court Monday.  The 35-year-old had faced up to 65 years in prison for bank fraud, money laundering and conspiracy to support a terrorist group.  In his plea bargain, Ouazzani admitted making false claims to borrow money for a used auto parts business and wiring the proceeds to a bank in Dubai. That money was used to purchase an apartment that later sold for a $17,000 profit, which was given to al-Qaida. Ouazzani also admitted sending the terror group $6,500 from the sale of his business…

14.  B.C. bombing victim can argue for share of Iran's Canadian assets in U.S. lawsuit, court rules
Stewart Bell October 11, 2013 5:41 PM ET National Post
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/11102
IPT NOTE:  The cited opinion is posted at http://www.ontariocourts.ca/decisions/2013/2013ONCA0623.htm [HTML] and http://www.ontariocourts.ca/decisions/2013/2013ONCA0623.pdf [PDF]
TORONTO — The first Canadian to make use of a new law that allows victims to sue state sponsors of terrorism will be allowed to intervene in a case that threatens to hand Iran's assets to Americans, leaving her with nothing.  The Ontario Court of Appeal ruled Friday that Dr. Sherri Wise, a Vancouver dentist injured by Palestinian suicide bombers, can make arguments in the case of Marla Bennett, a U.S. terror victim whose family is seeking Iran's Canadian assets.  The appeals court wrote in its decision that a lower court judge had "mischaracterized the nature of the case" when he denied Dr. Wise's application for intervener status, and that "important public issues are at play."  Last year, the government enacted the Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act, which permits those harmed by terrorism to seek damages from the state sponsors of their attackers. Dr. Wise was badly wounded by Hamas, which is financed, trained and armed by Iran.  Two weeks ago, she launched a lawsuit against Iran under the JVTA. But before her case was filed, several Americans went to the Ontario courts to collect on massive judgments against Iran handed down by U.S. courts…

BORDER SECURITY, IMMIGRATION & CUSTOMS


15.  Illegals in Arizona fight deportations, call on Obama to halt removals
By Stephen Dinan-The Washington Times Monday, October 14, 2013
Immigrant-rights advocates' protests against President Obama spread Monday to Phoenix, where demonstrators shut down the federal government's main detention facility in the city and demanded the administration halt all deportations.  The demonstrators — among them illegal immigrants who said they aren't afraid of getting arrested during the protests — said Mr. Obama should unilaterally halt all deportations and challenge Congress to finish work on a bill that would legalize most of the 11 million illegal immigrants in the U.S…

MIDDLE EAST / AFRICA

16.  Kenya charges man with terrorist plot, links him to mall attack
Reuters October 11, 2013 11:59am EDT
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/11/us-kenya-attack-charges-idUSBRE99A0KD20131011
MOMBASA, Kenya (Reuters) - A Kenyan court on Friday charged a man suspected of links to last month's attack on a Nairobi shopping mall with plotting to commit terrorist acts in the port city of Mombasa. Anti-terrorism police arrested Swaleh Abdallah Said on Thursday and he led them to a house in Mombasa where they found explosives, a grenade, two mobile phones and passports, prosecutors told the magistrate's court.  "We are requesting four days to conclude investigations because we are linking the accused to the recent acts of terrorism at Westgate in Nairobi," prosecutor Simon Waithaka told the court.  Said, a Kenyan national, was in possession of unauthorized explosives, Waithaka added…

Extremist Group Gains Foothold Among Kenyans
By NICHOLAS KULISH and JOSH KRON New York Times October 10, 2013
NAIROBI, Kenya — When the United States tried to capture a powerful militant in Somalia last weekend, it did not go after the leader of the Shabab extremist group, but a Kenyan national whose ties were as much in his native country as in the Horn of Africa.  Outside of Somalia itself, Kenya sends more fighters to the Shabab than does any other country, analysts say. Young Kenyan men have ridden buses to the border in large numbers for years, local Muslim leaders say, drawn by payments of up to $1,000 to cross into Somalia and fight for the group.  But ever since the Kenyan military stormed into southern Somalia two years ago, many Kenyan fighters have been coming back home, local leaders and experts say, creating a larger, increasingly sophisticated network of trained jihadists in a country where people from around the globe gather in crowded, lightly protected public places.  "The growing number of militants in Kenya," said J. Peter Pham, director of the Africa Center at the Atlantic Council in Washington, "is a serious concern — or ought to be — for both U.S. policy makers and their Kenyan counterparts."…

17.  Rival al-Qaeda-linked groups fortifying in Syria with mix of pragmatism and militancy
By Loveday Morris, Joby Warrick and Souad Mekhennet Washington Post Published: October 13, 2013
GAZIANTEP, Turkey — Shortly before its operatives killed 14 Iraqi Shiite children in a school bombing this month, the group once known as al-Qaeda in Iraq sent guerrillas into northern Syrian villages with orders to reopen local Sunni classrooms. In a series of early fall visits, the militants handed out religious textbooks along with backpacks bearing the group's new name: the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.  A four-hour drive to the east, a rival al-Qaeda faction called ­Jabhat al-Nusra was busy setting up a jobs program in Ash-Shaddadi, a desert town it has held since February. The Islamists restarted production at an oil field that had been idled by fighting, and they fired up the town's natural gas plant, now a source of income for Ash-Shaddadi and its new rulers.  The two rebel groups, with their distinct lineages to the terrorist network founded by Osama bin Laden, have become the focus of Western fears that jihadist influences within Syria's rebel movement are rising. Two and a half years after the conflict in the country started, Islamists are carving out fiefdoms and showing signs of digging in.  "We all have the same aqidah [Islamic creed] as al-Nusra or the Islamic State," said a 23-year-old Jordanian Palestinian who gave his name as Abu Abdallah in an interview in Jordan and who fights for a rebel brigade allied with the Islamists. "The aim is to free the Muslim lands and have the Islamic flag there."…

Clerics rule besieged Damascus residents may eat dogs
By Sebastian Usher BBC News 15 October 2013 Last updated at 11:09 ET
A group of Syrian clerics have issued a ruling - or fatwa - allowing people living in besieged suburbs of Damascus to eat meat that is normally forbidden.  In a video, the Muslim clerics said people could eat cats, dogs and donkeys to stave off hunger.  The fatwa comes amid reports of starvation in the besieged, rebel-held Damascus suburb of Muadhamiya.  Aid agencies have urged the government to allow humanitarian supplies to the area, where many residents are trapped…

ASIA / PACIFIC

18.  Jihadists assassinate governor in key Afghan province
Written by Bill Roggio on October 15, 2013 11:38 AM to 1 The Long War Journal
http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2013/10/jihadists_assassinat.php
Arsala Jamal, the governor of Logar province, was assassinated today as he was speaking inside a mosque for Eid al Adha prayers.  Jamal was killed by a bomb that was "skillfully planted inside the microphone in the front part of the mosque," Pajhwok Afghan News reported. A member of the provincial High Peace Committee, which is tasked with negotiating with the Taliban, is also reported to have been killed. Eighteen people were wounded in the blast…

ISAF soldier killed in latest insider attack in eastern Afghanistan
Written by Bill Roggio on October 13, 2013 9:41 AM to 1 The Long War Journal
http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2013/10/isaf_soldier_killed.php
A member of the Afghan National Security Forces gunned down a soldier from the International Security Assistance Force in the fourth green-on-blue, or insider attack, recorded in Afghanistan in less than a month… The attack took place in Sharana city, the capital of Paktika province, Reuters reported. Two American soldiers were shot, an Afghan official told the news agency, and one was killed. According to The New York Times, the attacker escaped…

EUROPE

19.  Police foil 'Mumbai-style' terrorist plot in London, say security sources
Four men held on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism after surveillance operation
Duncan Gardham The Guardian (UK) Monday 14 October 2013 14.12 EDT
A suspected terrorist plot to launch a Mumbai-style attack in Britain has been foiled after police swooped on four men, firing shots as they stopped a car in central London.  The arrested men had been under MI5 surveillance for some time after intelligence was received that they were plotting attacks in Britain, according to security sources.  The operation to stop the men in the street away from their homes was pre-planned, partly because of concerns that they could have weapons… A British 28-year-old of Azerbaijani origin was arrested at Westbourne Grove, west London, and another British national of Pakistani origin was arrested at a block of flats in Peckham, south-west London.  The last man was named locally as Naveed Baluch. He is thought to be from Karachi and to have attended secondary school in Walworth, south London…

Shots fired during London anti-terror operations
Two men arrested near Tower of London after police fire at vehicle, with another two held elsewhere as police search six addresses
Press Association (UK) Monday 14 October 2013 08.07 EDT
Special ammunition designed to breach doors or burst tyres was fired at a car during a series of anti-terror raids across the capital.  Police fired Hatton rounds – large shotgun ammunition used to stop vehicles – at a car on Mansell Street, close to the Tower of London, on Sunday night. Two men, both aged 25, were arrested in the street. One is a British national of Turkish origin, while the other is a British national of Algerian origin…

20.  Britain's MI5 head says Edward Snowden leaks are 'gift' to terrorists
Andrew Parker, the new head of Britain's counter-intelligence agency, condemned the public disclosure of government secrets. Edward Snowden provided thousands of classified documents to the press.
BY CORINNE LESTCH NEW YORK DAILY NEWS WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2013, 1:35 AM
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/11097
IPT NOTE:  The full text of Mr. Parker's speech is posted at http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/11098
Leaks of official secrets like the ones whistleblower Edward Snowden passed on to the press are a "gift" to terrorists, the new head of Britain's counter-intelligence agency charges.  In his first public remarks since assuming his leadership role in April at MI5, Andrew Parker defended the techniques used by British intelligence agencies, like the Government Communications Headquarters, to counter terrorist activity… 

DIRECTOR GENERAL'S SPEECH AT RUSI, 2013
Address by the Director General of the Security Service, Andrew Parker, to the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), Whitehall, 8 October 2013.
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/11098

21.  Leader of British anti-Islamist protest group quits over extremism
By Michael Holden Reuters Tue Oct 8, 2013 8:50am EDT
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/08/us-britain-extremism-edl-idUSBRE9970F820131008
LONDON (Reuters) - The leader of a British anti-Islamist protest group accused of inflaming racial tensions said on Tuesday he was quitting the organization because he no longer felt able to control far-right extremists.  The Quilliam Foundation, a counter-extremism think-tank which said it had brokered the move, hailed it as a big success for community relations but one expert on the far-right warned it could lead to further radicalization and violence.  Tommy Robinson was the most prominent figure in the English Defense League (EDL), which has staged numerous high-profile street protests across Britain since 2009, often in mainly Muslim areas. Many protests have led to violence...

22.  Police warning after drug traffickers' cyber-attack
By Tom Bateman, Reporter, Today programme  BBC News 16 October 2013 Last updated at 01:08 ET
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24539417
The head of Europe's crime fighting agency has warned of the growing risk of organised crime groups using cyber-attacks to allow them to traffic drugs.  The director of Europol, Rob Wainwright, says the internet is being used to facilitate the international drug trafficking business.  His comments follow a cyber-attack on the Belgian port of Antwerp.  Drug traffickers recruited hackers to breach IT systems that controlled the movement and location of containers.  Police carried out a series of raids in Belgium and Holland earlier this year, seizing computer-hacking equipment as well as large quantities of cocaine and heroin, guns and a suitcase full of cash. Fifteen people are currently awaiting trial in the two countries...

Hackers planted remote devices to smuggle drugs through Antwerp port, Europol reveals
Major KVM-style attack revealed
By John E Dunn | Techworld | Published: 14:30, 16 October 2013
Drug smugglers planted an extraordinary array of ingeniously-disguised remote access devices as part of a major hacking attack on the Belgian port of Antwerp's logistics systems, Europol has revealed.  Announced by police in May this year, it is only now that the remarkable scale of the attacks and their unusual methods – which bear an uncanny resemblance to the recent KVM attacks on UK banks - are becoming clear… The modus operandi was simple. The smugglers would hide drugs inside legitimate shipments of other goods from South America, stealing the release codes from the computer system in order to pick up the container before its real owner turned up at the port. On at least one occasion where this proved impossible to pull off, the criminals simply hijacked the trucks carrying the containers after they left the port…

COMMENT / ANALYSIS

23.  Nobel Peace Charade
Claudia Rosett, Contributor Forbes.com OP/ED 10/14/2013 @ 10:13PM
http://www.forbes.com/sites/claudiarosett/2013/10/14/nobel-peace-charade/
Claudia Rosett is journalist-in-residence with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, and heads its Investigative Reporting Project.

24.  Four Possible Deals With Iran
An ideal agreement would force Iran to stop all uranium enrichment. Most of the other alternatives are bad.
By AMOS YADLIN AND AVNER GOLOV Wall Street Journal Oct. 15, 2013 7:17 p.m. ET
Gen. Yadlin, who is retired from the military, is a former chief of Israeli defense intelligence and the director of Israel's Institute for National Security Studies, where Mr. Golov is a researcher.

25.  Bashar Al-Assad: The Nobel Peace Prize Should Have Gone To Me
MEMRI Special Dispatch #5480 October 15, 2013
http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/7462.htm

26.  Hamas Tunneling Its Way to Future Clash With Israel
by Yaakov Lappin Special to IPT News October 15, 2013
http://www.investigativeproject.org/4187/hamas-tunneling-its-way-to-future-clash-with
Yaakov Lappin is the Jerusalem Post's military and national security affairs correspondent, and author of The Virtual Caliphate (Potomac Books), which proposes that jihadis on the internet have established a virtual Islamist state.
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